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Ethiopia launches airstrikes in Somalia
AP ^ | December 24th, 2006 | By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press Writer

Posted on 12/24/2006 1:26:21 AM PST by Eurotwit

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Ethiopian fighter jets bombarded the Somali town of Belet Weyne on Sunday, witnesses said, a sharp escalation in violence that is threatening to engulf the volatile Horn of Africa.

The airstrikes on the town, which is controlled by Somalia's Islamic militia that is battling Somalia's government, hit a strategic road and a recruiting center for the militants, resident Ayanle Husein Abdi told The Associated Press by telephone.

The Council of Islamic Courts has vowed to drive out troops from neighboring Ethiopia, a largely Christian nation that is providing military support to Somalia's U.N.-backed government. Fighting was reported Sunday in Baidoa — the only town the government controls — and the Islamist strongholds of Belet Weyne and Bandiradley.

"The planes hit an Islamic center where the Islamic officials in the region have been enrolling volunteers who wanted to join the war," Abdi said.

Another witness, Said Abukar Sahal, said the strikes were targeting the roads and defenses of the Islamic militia.

Somalia has not had an effective government since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, plunging the country into chaos. The Islamic courts have steadily gained power since June, raising concerns about an emerging Taliban-style regime. The U.S. accuses the group of having ties to al-Qaida, which it denies.

Somali government officials were not immediately available for comment. Last week, officials from the government and the Islamic union said several days of fighting killed hundreds of people.

As Sunday's fighting wore on, the Islamic leadership in the capital, Mogadishu, began broadcasting patriotic songs about Somalia's 1977 war with Ethiopia. Although the two countries view each other as enemies, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf is a longtime ally of Ethiopia.

The militants, who want to govern Somalia according to Islamic law, invited foreign Muslims on Saturday to join their holy war against Ethiopian troops. Many fear the fighting could escalate into a regional battle.

"Muslims are brothers and help each other," said Sheik Yusuf Indahaadde, national security chairman for the Council of Islamic Courts. "We have a right to call our brothers and sisters to help us in this holy war."

The clashes could mean a major conflict in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia, which has one of the largest armies in the region, and its bitter rival, Eritrea, could use Somalia as the ground for a proxy war. Eritrea backs the Islamists.

In Kismayo, a strategic seaport captured by Islamic militia in September, residents saw several foreign Arab fighters disembarking from ships this week.

Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi vowed Saturday that his government will "defend the people it is responsible for and Somali sovereignty" and said the Islamic fighters should return to negotiations. Several rounds of talks, mediated by the Arab League, have failed to produce any lasting effect.

Thousands of Somalis have fled their homes as troops loyal to the two-year-old interim administration fought Islamic fighters who had advanced on Baidoa, about 140 miles northwest of Mogadishu. Islamic militiamen control Mogadishu along with most of southern Somalia.

Government officials said more than 600 Islamic fighters had been killed during four days of clashes. Islamic militiamen said they killed around 400 Ethiopians and government fighters. Neither claim could be independently confirmed.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ethiopia; globaljihad; islamiccourts; jihad; somalia; somaliaethiopia

1 posted on 12/24/2006 1:26:22 AM PST by Eurotwit
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To: Eurotwit

Good.


2 posted on 12/24/2006 1:29:28 AM PST by kinoxi
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To: Eurotwit

Who knows, maybe the idea of being controlled by Islamowhackos will be enough to get the Somalians to at least try and get their act together and rebuild their country. Go Ethiopia!


3 posted on 12/24/2006 1:30:42 AM PST by WestVirginiaRebel (Common sense will do to liberalism what the atomic bomb did to Nagasaki-Rush Limbaugh)
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To: Eurotwit
WOO HOO! Liberals take note.

JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL!

4 posted on 12/24/2006 2:06:49 AM PST by madconserv (Jesus take the wheel- The time is here.)
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To: Eurotwit

Classic good vs. evil being played out.


5 posted on 12/24/2006 2:10:25 AM PST by Pro-Bush (hater)
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To: Eurotwit

Eritrea..

Is that the modern day name for zanzibar? An imperialistic medival arab settlement in black africa?


6 posted on 12/24/2006 2:27:13 AM PST by mamelukesabre
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To: Eurotwit

The Saudis are reading this too and are going to throw heavy petrodollars at the Islamo troublemakers to buy arms and recruit Muslim troops.

This war against Islam isn't going away. It's only changing venues.

We are going to have to nuke them all sooner or later. Unfortunately, we will wait until they nuke us first.


7 posted on 12/24/2006 2:29:57 AM PST by Bon mots
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To: mamelukesabre

Well no, Zanzibar is an island (actually two islands) belonging now formally to Tanzania. Eritrea is a continental country north of Somalia.


8 posted on 12/24/2006 2:30:52 AM PST by SolidWood
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To: Eurotwit

Rocks are falling


9 posted on 12/24/2006 2:35:10 AM PST by DeaconRed (We have a war going on within America and we must put a stop to the liberal idiots! !)
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To: mamelukesabre

Zanzibar is where the 19th century Arab slave traders srtaged out of. They would organize raids into black Africa from that island. After reading about the role of the Muslim in the slave trade, particularly Zanzibar, I'm confused as to why militant blacks in this country choose to adopt Arab/Muslim names.


10 posted on 12/24/2006 2:37:21 AM PST by Archie Bunker on steroids (We'll stay out of your bedrooms, if you stay out of our children's classrooms.)
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To: Eurotwit

Very interesting . . .


11 posted on 12/24/2006 2:38:14 AM PST by Princip. Conservative
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To: SolidWood; Archie Bunker on steroids

Ok you guys, you made me go searching for my great grandmothers 3 volume set of "cyclopaedias". I don't trust modern references for anything historical anymore for fear that the revisionist have corrupted the facts thoroughly.

Here's what it says:

A british protectorate in africa, lying east of german east africa. It includes the islands of zanzibar and pemba, off the eastern shore, and a small strip of the mainland. The island of zanzibar has an area of 625 square miles and a population of 150,000. It contains the city of zanzibar, wich is the cheif town and seat of local government and has an estimated population of 100,000, thus being the largetst city on the eastern coast of africa., Pemba has an area of 360 square miles and a population of 50,000. Both these islands have fertile soil and good harbors. They produce cloves, hides, ivory, copra, shells, cotton, indigo, rice, fruits, and vegetibles. Domestic animals such as horses and cattle,are reared successfully. The coast region claimed by great britain is included in the region to which claim is made by germany, which country exercizes influence on the islands and controls the larger part of the export and import trade,. Natives known as swahillis form the laboring class. They are peaceable, loya to the government, and apt in learning civilized arts. Other inhabitants embrace arabs germans, english, portuguese, french, hindus and italians. Most of the people are mohammedans, but many christian missions are maintained. Slavery in a modified form still exists, though the laboring classes have their own housed and cannot be separated from their wives and families. The entire population is estimated at 725,000

I don't have a scanner so forgive typos please, I typed really fast and didn't proofread.


12 posted on 12/24/2006 3:02:56 AM PST by mamelukesabre
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To: mamelukesabre; SolidWood; Archie Bunker on steroids

Erythrea:

A possesion of italy, on the western coast of the red sea,m extending as a narrow strip of country about 670 miles along the coast, from nubia to french somaliland. The total area is about 88500 sq mi and the largely nomadic population is 450500. A resident civil governor is nominated by the king of italy and is placed under the direction of the italian minister of foreign affairs. Farming is largely pastoral, its products being butter, meat, and hides, supplied by cattle, sheep, and goats. There are pearl fisheries of considereble importance along the coast while the import and ewport trade is quite large. Massowah is the capital and local seat of bgovernment; population 9250. It is connected with saate and several other points by railroad and telegraph lines. Numerous wars between the italians and the dervishes have occurred, though the boundary line was fixed at its present limit in 1897.


13 posted on 12/24/2006 3:13:23 AM PST by mamelukesabre
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To: Eurotwit

I never thought I'd be saying this, but Go Ethiopia!


14 posted on 12/24/2006 3:39:41 AM PST by verum ago (The Iranian Space Agency: set phasers to jihad!)
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To: mamelukesabre
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/er.html

This reference should give you the skinny, so to speak.


15 posted on 12/24/2006 5:00:39 AM PST by HawaiianGecko (Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.)
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To: HawaiianGecko

I am going to assume that the coastal region near ethiopia that is eritria territory was traditionally ethiopia territory but was taken in the muslim invasion.


16 posted on 12/25/2006 8:44:54 PM PST by mamelukesabre
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To: mamelukesabre
Well, this is a part of the world that I know little or less about, but from what I can gather, the Brits controlled it until after WWII and favored partitioning it up sending the northern and western portions to Sudan and the rest to Ethiopia, at the time ruled by Haile Selassie a pro-western dictator. It appears that the decision to federate Eritrea with Ethiopia came about in 1950 due to the strategic interest of the United States.

John Foster Dulles our Sec. State at the time said: "From the point of view of justice, the opinions of the Eritrean people must receive consideration. Nevertheless, the strategic interest of the United States in the Red Sea basin and considerations of security and world peace make it necessary that the country has to be linked with our ally, Ethiopia."

Eritrea and Ethiopia have be virtually at war ever since, during that time the reason was mostly because Eritrea's location eliminated  Ethiopia's access to the Red Sea. Today the war between Ethiopia and Somalia (with Somalia being backed by their arch rivals Eritrea and Al Qaeda) is being played as a war against Islamists for the obvious reasons, but I haven't a clue if Eritrea is really on the side of Al Qaeda or simply taking advantage of a situation to shoot some Ethiopians.


17 posted on 12/26/2006 10:35:49 AM PST by HawaiianGecko (Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.)
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To: Eurotwit

This is the same writer as the other article for a different news service. I'm not saying that he's lying about anything but where are the rest of the world's brave journalists? This has been going on for awhile, are they still booking their tickets?


18 posted on 12/26/2006 10:41:34 AM PST by Ieatfrijoles (110%)
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